I’m Blegging You

A little research showed that the reason you can’t get the original 1966 TV-Batman on DVD, is that one studio owns the series rights, but another studio owns the character rights, and the lawyers make more money negotiating than they do settling.

That bites.

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1.
PKL

Probably incorrect, I’m afraid.

Inter-studio transactions would most likely be negotiated by in-house counsel in the Business Affairs Departments, who are paid a salary.

Sometimes, the studios will hire an outside entertainment lawyer who is paid 5% of the deal’s revenue when it closes but 0% if the deal does not.

I’m with Wolfwalker. I was a huge Batman fan in the fifties. When I heard that the TV show was coming, I was jazzed! At last- the greatest action hero/detective of all time would have his due!
I had to wait forty years to see it done right.

I don’t know the correct answer, but a common problem is that earlier TV shows were licensed only for broadcast rights for things like characters, story, embedded music clearances, etc.

So what I think Stephen is implying is that the TV show was licensed to use the Batman characters for broadcast, but not for other media. And now that they want to sell DVD, they can’t get the owner of the character rights to release the rights for a reasonable sum.

Slamming lawyers is an easy target but probably not the real roadblock.

No show ever flaired so brightly or flamed out so fast as Batman — it really was only on for two full years (January 1966 through January 1968) and was a phenomenon in its first half-season, but in need of emergency surgery (adding Yvonne Craig as Batgirl) just over a year later, as the ratings fell through the floor in the second half of the 1966-67 season.

When the novelty wore off the casual viewers went elsewhere while the hard-core fans were irked by the campiness of the series (which also screwed up the comic book stories during the same period of time). Sooner or later, I’m sure Warner Bros. and Fox will finally get a deal hashed out to get the series on DVD, though I couldn’t see buying anything but Season 1.

Holy Copyright Law, Vodkapundit! Looks like the League of Wet Blankets is attacking that TV series!

wolfwalker – the criminal canine! Paul Moore – the cunning critical commenter! The sum of the angles of that rectangle is too monstrous to contemplate!

Will the brave citizens stand up for this old campy show? Can Robin Roberts, the adult wonder, with the aid of zombyboy, the deceased detective? And what about dorkafork, the conspicuous drunk? Find out… same bat-time…

I am waiting for this one two. We have the movie which apparently didn’t have this problem. Anyway, I’ve got three boys so we live in Superhero Land. While you are waiting, you might enjoy the new animated series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold.” It’s funny and a bit campy as well. The logo even looks like the old TV show. One of the things we like is that it uses a lot of the more obscure DC heroes and villians.

Bah. That series was so goofy you needed more than one or two of Steve’s martinis to actually sit through it. While I think lawyer season (one-head bag limit, no staging car accidents as bait) should be started to thin out the American indigenous herds a bit, in this case, I’m hoping they tie up the negotiations until Hell freezes over